Dan Evans, a former reporter at the News of the World and the Sunday Mirror, was yesterday charged with two counts of conspiring to hack the phones of “well-known people and their associates”.

Mr Evans faces two additional charges, one of perverting the course of justice and one of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office.

The charges under Scotland Yard’s Operation Weeting relate to allegations that he conspired with others to hack into voicemails between 28 February 2003 and 1 January 2005, and also between 30 April 2004 and 1 June 2010.